This three-level atrium mall allows views up to the second and third floor walkways as well as a skylight system that floods the corridors with natural lighting during the days. Decorated in greys and blues, this mall is quite modern and expansive in it's cross way design. There are more than 150 lots here of storefronts which offer a wide variety in selection for the entire family.

It's late afternoon and because most people are still at work, the mall is relatively free of shoppers, especially for the holiday season. The Mall in Salem, while not as big as the mall in Brooklyn, offers a few specialty shops that it doesn't. That and the fact that is is less crowded is a draw for those people who live in Manhattan.

It's this reason that the young auburn haired woman, Krista, has chosen it to do some shopping. She strolls through the main corridor weaving in an out of the other shoppers before pausing before a mall map which she stares at for a long moment.

Ah, the mall. With its own controlled climate, it's a godsend for whoever who wants to escape the cold weather outside. One of such people is the metallic girl Cessily Kincaid, wearing jeans pants and a red sweater with a hood over her head. While her chaperone went to locations unknown inside the mall, she can still get contact with her phone, so she's not worried. Walking around, she pulls her hood back as she looks at the store. People stare, some frown, and kids try to get a better look while their parents drag the kids away, she seems... used to the negative attention. Well, mostly used. She's trying to block them out.

Looking up from the mall directory Krista looks around to get her bearings then continues down the wide corridor. The reaction of people to the metallic girl gets her attention far more than the girl does. She lives in Mutant Town, she's seen mutations a lot more severe than metal skin. She happens to be going in the opposite direction of Mercury, so when they pass she will give the girl an encouraging grin "Don't worry, they'll all be getting coal in thier stockings."

Mercury sighs softly. As much as she tries, she finds it very hard to tune out the constant chatter and mumble of the people surrounding her, commenting in all sorts of colorful words about her current situation as a mutant. But then someone passes by her and says a funny, amusing comments about her onlookers, which makes Mercury smile. She turns her head toward the person who said that, and smiles, "Thanks." she says. But apparently being the target of stares and glares isn't enough, as apparently a young man of around six feet approaches, the kind of guy your mother advises you to stay away from, and grabs Mercury's arm, "Hey hey hey, look at the trash the cat has dragged in." He says in a very condescending manner his friends just chuckle and smirk. Mercury frowns and tries to tug her arm free, "Hey, let me go!" she says. The bully just smirks. "It seems you scum don't learn good enough: malls are for people, not trash like you muties!" he says as he pulls on her arm.

Krista had every intention of just saying something to cheer the girl up and going on her way and she probably would have but she doesn't get to far when the rude man speaks up. Certainly loud enough to be heard by anyone in the near vicinity, people like that tend to like a audience.

Turning around immediately Krista approaches the tall man who at one point would have towered over her, even more than he does now "The only trash I see around here is you. Now I'll only ask once. Let her go." she moves her head in a fashion that moves the bangs from in front of her mis-matched eyes.

While, technically, Mercury could use her powers to break free from the guy, he figures a display of her powers would do more harm than good and only serve to spur those guys on. Besides, the guy holding her arm is also holding the sweater sleeve, so even if she could wiggle her arm free he'd still be holding the sleeve. "I said, let me go!" she says, trying to yank her arm free to no avail. She's really getting pissed off at this guy.

Then someone intervenes. The same woman that gave her the cheering words barely a minute ago returns. At first, the jock holding Mercury's arm seems surprised to see someone standing up to him, but quickly regains his attitude, "OOhh, and what are you going to do, girl? Huh?" He almost spits out, smirking, "Go back to the kitchen and don't stick your cute nose where you don't belong. This thing here..." and he shakes Mercury's arm for a moment, "Is an abomination that real men need to take care of." And at that all his friends shout, "YEAH!" Well, Mercury had enough. She frowns and raises her knee, "I said: LET. ME. GO!" and she punctuates her request by driving the heel of her shoe hard on the man's foot, who cries in pain and lets her go. Mercury quickly gets away from his range as he tries to grab her arm again, "Ahh.. you dumb broad! You and your friend, we'll teach you how to treat your betters!" He angrily says as he moves toward Mercury again, while his gang approaches, the rest of the crowd just backing away or running away. Two of the guys go for Krista, wearing condescending smirks on their faces.

Eyebrows go up at the mysogeny that erupts from the guys mouth. It takes all of Krista's will power to not just lay him out right there. As her hands curl into fists that small chance is taken from her when Mercury finally attacks and gets away from her captor. "Looks like it isn't me you have to worry about." she gets out before he goes after Mercury again. She turns to look at the other two approaching and gives them /the look/ "Really? You wanna do this." she shrugs with a sigh "Fine bring it on then."

One of the two guys approaching Krista laughs, "Yer choice, woman. We gave ya all t' chance in t' world t' back off unharmed. If ya really want a beatin', we're happy to oblige." says the black man approaching as he cracks his knuckles. His blonde friend is of few words but lots of action! He goes straight to Krista's arms to grab them and prevent the woman from escaping.

As for Mercury, she's surrounded as the gang formed a wide circle around the group. "I was gonna go easy on you." says the 'leader', "I was just gonna beat you up and leave you for the rats outside the mall, but since you decided to not play by the rules..." and he pulls out a pocket knife, "Then so will I." and Mercury frowns again. He lunges for a swipe at her belly while the crowd cheers on, but Mercury manages to avoid it. 'This is bad...' she thinks, 'Security will arrive soon and this will become chaos. Gotta end this quick...'

Krista doesn't seem to want to escape, she makes no move to either run or defend herself. She has no need to since they are going exactly what she wants, or at least the one is. Since he is holding her arm he is certainly close enough for to grab some part of him and she does. That contact is enough and she focuses her own mutagenic powers on him, causing him to shrink, shrink, shrink, down to the size of what would be a nice size rat in New York. Since she already had a hold of him he is still in her grasp, and she holds him out so his blond friennd can get a good look, "What was that you were saying about mutants?" she taunts threateningly

The reaction is instant and powerful as everyone gasps in horror as their friend shrinks, and shrinks, until being no taller than a few inches. Mercury also turns her head to toward the commotion, as well as the gang leader, whose eyes widen considerably when noticing the guy shrinking! Mercury recovers first, and she reaches for the guy's wrist that's holding the knife and tries to wrestle it out of him, while the other guy that were onto Krista seethes now, "You bitch! You'll learn not to mess with us!" and he throws caution to the wind and rushes toward the woman aiming a punch at her face.

It's going to take more than a punch from a normal human male to do any damage to Krista. Her skin, tissues, etc being resistant to mundane blunt force. She stands there a moment after she gets punched as if waiting for something "Oh is it my turn now?" she says to him. She reaches out to grab his shirt with her free hand and uses it to throw him the 100 yards or so into the decorative fountain, with her strength it is an easy toss. The other guy is still being held in her hand, gently of course, she doesn't want to squish him. After the toss she turns around to check on Mercury and will jump in if assistance is needed.

The man who just punched Krista recoils while holding his hand, as if he just punched a concrete wall! So he is grabbed completely unexpectedly and tossed into the pond. Mercury managed to keep the leader from using the knife by wraping one of her hands around his wrist and hand to keep his hand immobilized, and her other hand punches the guy in the guts hard enough to get his breathe out! When the guy doubles over, the rest of the crowd roars and is about to join in when security finally shows up, along with the police. Mercury looks up, eyes wide, and curses. A quick look at Krista, she says, "Come on, we have to get away from here before the police gets us!" she says, and then she starts running away, without looking back if the woman is following. A quick message is sent to her chaperone to warn him to meet her away from the mall.

Even if she did look back Mercury wouldn't see any indication of the woman that assisted her. As soon as security shows up Krista drops the thug that she shrunk. Once she lets go he will rapidly grow back to his original size. Krista on the other hand shrinks down to a dimunitve 5 inches and dashes away in the opposite direction, deftly avoiding being stopped by mall security by virtue of being so small.